Marsden Hartley (1877-1943)
As a native of Lewiston Maine, Marsden Hartley loved to paint the mountains and coast. He attended the National Academy of Design in New York where he studied under William Chase. By 1921, his role as a key component in American Modernism became clear and defined. Painting a breadth of subject matters, from abstract portraits to forceful landscapes, he traveled all over Europe and displayed his work in galleries with contemporary artists including Klee and Kandinsky. While his earlier work of still life and portrait paintings reflect a direct influence of the colors in the works of Matisse, his later pieces focus on nature. Hartley eventually returned to Maine, painting images of the coast in an attempt to capture the mood and dynamism of nature in his painterly brushstroke.
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